Clearing snow off the road may go high tech in Will County

Will County Board members are considering a move that would install GPS systems in all 40 snowplow trucks

October 18, 2012|By Alicia Fabbre, Special to the Tribune

Clearing snow off the road may go high tech for some Will County snowplow truck drivers.

Will County Board members are considering a move that would install GPS systems in all 40 snowplow trucks and two sign trucks. The systems would track everything from miles driven to when the salt spreader turns on.

"It will provide a good monitoring of our coverage," County Engineer Bruce Gould said at last week's county board executive committee meeting.

County board member Jim Bilotta, who heads the board's public works and transportation committee, said the system would be able to track how much road salt was used to combat particular road or weather conditions. That information, he said, would help drivers plan for future snow clearing or de-icing trips.

He added the system, which is expected to cost about $24,000 to install and about $10,000 a year to maintain, would keep records for a full year of when roads were salted or signs were repaired. Bilotta noted that information also is useful whenever an accident occurs on a county road.

County board members are expected to approve the new system at Thursday's meeting.

The new system is expected to save as much as 10 percent of the $1.2 million spent each winter to salt and clear the 265 miles of county roads each winter.

In addition to tracking what roads were cleared or salted, Gould said the system could help identify areas that receive too much coverage. For example, drivers often turn the salt spinners on their trucks as soon as they leave the salt bin — leaving an abundance of salt on the same drive and roads. Gould said the system would help better identify where drivers should begin salting. He also expects some cost savings on fuel as the system could help better track where trucks should be deployed.

The system, which Gould hopes to have in place by the winter, also would help track any repairs to road signs. The county currently has two trucks dedicated solely to fixing and maintaining road signs.

In other county-related news, Will County Forest Preserve Board members Oct. 11 delayed action on purchasing 17 acres of land adjacent to Plum Creek Forest Preserve in Beecher. Forest preserve commissioners wanted to get additional information — and possibly another appraisal — before moving forward on purchasing the land.

Commissioners also questioned how the property was sold for back taxes — twice — without the forest preserve district being aware that a parcel adjacent to a forest preserve was being sold for taxes. District officials noted that normally the forest preserve district would have been notified by their consultant of a tax sale that involved land adjacent to a forest preserve. District officials said they would look into why the district was not informed when this property was offered at a tax sale.

Will County Forest Preserve District board president Cory Singer said the district had two appraisals on the property, one at about $51,000 and the other at $289,000. Singer noted the lower appraisal did not take into account the possibility of any developable land within the 17 acres while the higher one valued the property as developable acreage.

Forest preserve officials first contacted the landowner, who is now deceased, in 1999 about the property.